Dear Friends, Family,

I hope that this letter finds you in good health and spirits as high as my own.

As many of you are probably aware, my parents and grandparents have stressed the importance of community service for as long as I can remember. Thanks to them, for my entire life, I have participated in philanthropic activities such as performing outreach to the housebound elderly, working in food pantries and collecting money for the Common Cents Penny Harvest.

As a sophomore at Brandeis University, a school whose entire framework and mission is rooted in social justice, I am always looking for opportunities to put to use all of the hard work and knowledge gained from my college education. I Soon will be declaring a double major in Business and Psychology, which will train me to some day to be able to provide help to people on a larger scale, similar to some of the organizations for whom I have volunteered in the past. As one of my first ventures into this type of work, I have joined the Brandeis chapter of Global Brigades.

This coming February, I will be traveling with a group of seventy passionate Brandeis students to Honduras with an organization called Global Brigades. Global Brigades is a nonprofit organization that enables college students to create positive social changes in a diverse range of under-resourced communities, and leave a lasting impact on many lives.

We chose to work with the people of rural Honduras because of the country’s standing as the 3rd most impoverished country in the Western Hemisphere, as cited by the World Bank. In many villages, it is common for a family of four to live on less than $2.00 to spend, and three gallons of water to use each day.

The Brandeis Public Health, Medical, and Microfinance Brigades, strive to improve the quality of life and health of many rural Hondurans, who would otherwise not have access to any form of healthcare or rural banking. This allows us to work side-by-side with doctors and other healthcare professionals to improve the quality of health, sanitation, and public health of a community in a sustainable manner. Global Brigades’ mission is to empower the people who we are assisting to lead better quality lives.

On my upcoming brigade, I will be working hand-in-hand with microfinance practitioners and community members to increase financial literacy, discuss the benefits of interest bearing savings accounts, and provide micro-loans to farmers and small family businesses which could improve their ability to support themselves. Also, I’ll be working jointly with public-health and medical professionals to determine the best strategies to reduce the spread of disease, in ways which are most economical and suited to the community’s needs. Obviously, I come from a reasonably well-off background, and having gone to private school on the upper east side of Manhattan, I haven’t been exposed to the hardships that many people experience every single day. I am counting down the months until February because I am sure this will be such an enlightening trip in so many ways.

All that being said, the truth of the matter is that without YOUR help, I will not be able to make the journey to Honduras to empower these communities. As you can imagine, this trip has a price tag on it, and there are a few things you can do to make my dream of creating a lasting impact in this community, a reality. Any form of generosity is greatly appreciated, and will put me one step closer to Honduras.
If you are not in the financial position to donate, please forward my letter to any friends, family, coworkers, and neighbors, to help build awareness and support for my cause.

To make a donation please visit my fundraising page. http://www.empowered.org/Eli-Kaminsky. The site is completely secure and all donations are tax-deductible. Any form of assistance is a great help, and will go towards improving the lives of countless Hondurans who are living without organized sanitation, health-care, access to micro-loans, and medicine. Please let me know if you have any questions about my trip, I’d absolutely love to tell you more about it.

Once again, I would like to express my deepest gratitude for all of your time, help, and support. Every contribution to this cause makes my dream of empowering rural Hondurans to lead a better quality and more sustainable lifestyle, a reality.

Warmest Regards,

Eli Kaminsky